COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The PRCA Linderman Award is one of the most prestigious awards in ProRodeo. It recognizes a cowboy who won at least $1,000 in three events, and those events must include at least one roughstock and one timed-event.
The 2023 Linderman Award winner is Randlett, Utah, cowboy Josh Frost.
This past season Frost earned $232,034 in bull riding, $2,395 in tie-down roping, $1,976 in the steer wrestling, and another $482 in team roping. Frost said he takes great pride in the award and its a goal he sets out for himself at the beginning of every year.
“It means a lot to win this award, I put a lot of work into it every year to make it happen,” said Frost, 28. “It can be hard to balance two timed events when you’re trying to win a gold buckle in the bull riding. It’s always more challenging than you think, winning $1,000 sounds easy, but there aren’t easy events to win money in the PRCA that’s for sure.”
Frost’s focus remains on winning a world title in the bull riding, where he sits third in the PRCA | RAM World Standings headed into the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, but he said if there was another event that’s his favorite and best it would probably have to be tie-down roping.
“The tie-down roping is definitely the best of the two events for me, I practice that one a lot more,” he said. “I’m more competitive there and can win a little bit more money, whereas with the steer wrestling my size can hold me back a little bit at times.”
Frost has now won four straight Linderman awards. His first came back in 2019, followed up by 2021, 2022, and now 2023. He hopes to be remembered as not just a bull rider, but a cowboy. He’s gained even more respect for the other events along the way. The Linderman Award was not awarded in 2020.
“I think competing for this award just goes down to my cowboy roots and wanting to be remembered as a cowboy,” Frost said. “I have a lot of respect for the other cowboys and the other events in our sport of rodeo.”
